Discussions

Yes its all in here. Yes people I know I take 20 words to say two. Promise last time. It all started from reading todays Free Press!  
 
Corporate welfare/ Corporate welfare bums. This term used to really really irk me. It still bugs me.  
The term was and is used on a very loose basis. The last time that I heard those word it almost made me blow a gasket. It was by a city Councilor Mr Ross. It was about lowering the business tax from x percentage to the another!. I forget the dollar amount the city would lose and the area businesses would gain or should I say get to keep.  
 
He threw that term around like he invented it. In my mind I was thinking of a guy that owned a shop like Joe Thomassen Jewelers. In the morning he drives from his house that has a huge tax bill( Property) to his shop that has a huge tax bill( Property). He employes people who do the same thing. A shop full of taxpayers doing their jobs. All goods sold generate tax that is fed up the food chain. Yet we saw a need for a business tax. The tax generated from that building it seems is not enough. Yes I know now it is at 0 percent as it should be but that councilors vent that the dollars no longer taken from the shop owners equaled corporate welfare. How is that?? It was their money from the get go and the city provided no extras services for that tax. Is there special fire truck for stores?  
 
Anyways one reason for my rant is that there is many ways the City ( Brandon) can help/hurt individuals/groups or shops in this city. Winnipeg/and the province just stepped into the affordable housing issue this week by providing “tax incentives” of up to 40,000 per unit. In the end tax wise it may be a wash but that is starting to tread into a area where one group is favored.  
 
In today's Free Press Bristol Aerospace just received a sweet heart deal. Surplus land big enough for a 150,000 sq foot expansion( about the Size of Canadian Tire) for a buck. Yes looney days are back.  
 
In the end yes its a wash. More jobs increased tax base the cities tax coffers are better off or it. The city decided to step in and help as its right but affordable housing needs that type thinking in Brandon with no guff from the naysayers.  
 
If a very profitable private company with deep pockets who probably would have bought the land at market price gets land for a buck we need to accept the fact that some cities are proactive whether they should be or not.  
 
Lot prices are a big part of housing being built in Brandon. What are they now 40,000 plus??  
If the City of Winnipeg can give land away for a buck maybe we can do the same here for housing and give that land away at 1st and veterans way for a buck to ONE developer.( a few qualifiers)  
 
Instant price reduction for any new home owners/builders. Each and every new home will generate a tax base. Some may argue its a subsidy or unfair to give it to one developer. That is fair but tax wise its a wash re a buck. The one developer idea is to Keep it simple stupid (KISS). In the end the land gets developed quicker the housing market eases and for once it ( the tax break) is aimed someone different.  
 
At 1 percent rental vacancy rates, the city need to think outside the box.. Its not Corp welfare its steering investment where we want/need it. I have seen the city shut down high density housing developments in order to save coin( that is s fair) Then the same councilors spent coin on a Old Eaton's store with ( surprise surprise surprise) a HVAV system that needed replaced. ( hey the building is near 80 years old did no one do a walk through before they signed the cheque) They buy A old RCMP building and then sell it. Convergys-grrrrrr. Yes many gripes and other than the current Police station and old Fire hall its all water under the bridge.In no way shape or form should the city be in housing Its not our job. Yet we poke our noses into other areas. It time we poke our noses into the welfare of the people who live here and address housing. We have done a lot I grant you that but we need to be more proactive. Proactive does not mean spending coin at times just collecting less of it.  
 
Here is a case in point for those new to the city. Now there may be more to this story but its what I know. That big ugly building at 18th and Pacific. It was and is now a cold storage building. I can not remember what it used to be- no matter. I think a guy/group from Winnipeg bought it or had options on it. The taxes were low at the time- just look at it taxes must still be low!  
 
They wanted to put condos in. I still see in my minds eye when I drive by a busy looking building with lit windows balconies etc. Anywho- they want a ??year break on what ever the new taxes would be on this new and “vibrant” place. No it was not affordable housing but maybe the houses or apartment those new owners left might be. Anyways the city shot it down. Yes the city pulled its socks up later re old housing and building stock but it still irks me. The owner/group backed out and here we have that same old building.  
 
The cities reaction time has proven we are not quick on our feet. That should change.